Problem with VON radio and direct volumes compared to Vent/TS/etc.

[rangoon 0]

Hi,

I've been playing around with the Voice Over Net comms in ArmA 2 lately since in theory it seems so perfect. But the problem is that the volume levels are so terrible and there is no good adjustment for it. I completely accept that war is noisy and that Direct Communications should be easily drowned out by nearby vehicles and gunfire. But the other channels (Side, Group, etc.) are supposed to be radios. How can they be so quiet?

I have a good microphone, which always works fine in Ventrilo or TeamSpeak. But Ventrilo ALWAYS comes through more clearly and somewhat more loudly than any of the in-game radio channels. This is with volume sliders all the way up (except music) so that there is equity between Ventrilo and ArmA 2 in the mix. Usually I turn down a game's master volume so that Vent comes through above everything else. I can see why in ArmA 2 that doesn't make sense, for immersion, but then why are the radios so quiet?

Is the solution to use a mod like ACRE? Or what are others' thoughts on this?

As far as I can tell, the "Radio" slider in Audio Controls affects only what comes over the radio automatically through the game (like AI comms and player's auto-target calls, etc.). Is that correct? And the "Effect" slider controls all 3D environmental audio, INCLUDING the Direct Communication channel. That makes sense. That leaves the VON slider which, as far as I can tell, is all about the in-game radio channels (like group, side, command, vehicle). Is that right?

I am using a desktop microphone, so I thought that possibly getting a boom mic that would sit right in front of my mouth would work better, but when I lean in to put myself directly in front of the mic I have, the improvement is negligible.

I want this to work well, so either I am doing something wrong, or it's just not working in the game.

The other aspect then is the reality of sitting in a house on a PC. I can't very well start shouting at the top of my lungs to talk over a helicopter. My housemates and neighbors would think there was something wrong. So in theory it's great that I would have to actually shout to be heard through Direct Comms, but that's not practical in any way under normal gaming circumstances. Okay, tough luck for me, but I don't know if this is the philosophy at work here. I also think that I can't turn up my speaker volume so high that radio and direct comms volumes are to an acceptable level compared to the war effects, since now the war effects are so loud that I'll go deaf and people outside my house will think there is an actual war happening inside. It's great for realism, but terrible for reality.

[Horner 13]

I can tell you that ACRE is FABULOUS!!! My clan uses it and it is the best thing ever for large groups that way you dont get the massive flood of voices yet you can here people within the vecinity...